Which statement best describes UDP's reliability characteristics?

Which statement best describes UDP's reliability characteristics?

• A. It is connection-oriented
• B. It guarantees delivery
• C. It provides error correction
• D. It does not guarantee delivery

Answer: (D)

UDP is a lightweight, connectionless transport that delivers datagrams on a best-effort basis. It does not establish a connection, it does not guarantee that a datagram will arrive, and it does not perform error correction or retransmission. There is a checksum to detect accidental corruption, but there’s no built-in mechanism to recover lost data or reorder out-of-sequence packets within UDP itself. This design favors low latency and simplicity, making UDP suitable for real-time or loss-tolerant applications where speed outweighs perfect reliability.

UDP is a lightweight, connectionless transport that delivers datagrams on a best-effort basis. It does not establish a connection, it does not guarantee that a datagram will arrive, and it does not perform error correction or retransmission. There is a checksum to detect accidental corruption, but there’s no built-in mechanism to recover lost data or reorder out-of-sequence packets within UDP itself. This design favors low latency and simplicity, making UDP suitable for real-time or loss-tolerant applications where speed outweighs perfect reliability.